Elliott says chipmaker NXP worth more than $135 per share

(Reuters) - Elliott Management Corp said on Friday NXP Semiconductors NV is worth much more than its previous assessment of $135 per share and Qualcomm Inc’s $110 offer to buy the chipmaker.

“The current $110 offer is not even in the right zipcode and a credible offer from Qualcomm requires a price in excess of our estimate of NXP’s intrinsic standalone fair value of $135 per share,” the activist hedge fund said.

Elliott, which owns about 6.6 percent in NXP, had said in December NXP was worth about 23 percent more than Qualcomm’s offer.

Elliott had then retained financial adviser UBS Investment Bank to conduct an analysis on NXP and share the report with other shareholders.

According to UBS’s analysis, synergies from the deal could create between $19 and $48 of value per NXP share.

NXP shareholders would be at a disadvantage if a transaction occurred and these synergies were not appropriately and fairly shared, Elliott said.

In August, Elliott hinted that it was pushing for a higher price tag in NXP’s pending $38-billion sale to Qualcomm.